Ever wonder what it's like to be a band out on tour? And by "band out on tour" we don't mean U2 or even Scott Stapp. We mean bands that load in themselves, play their show and then get in the van and drive all night to the next gig. D.C.'s own These United States is such a band. Criss-crossing the country, playing upwards of 100 shows a year with bands like Califone, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Catfish Haven and Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter. We caught up with guitarist/jack-of-all-trades Tom Hnatow at the last Unbuckled and thought it might be fun if he shared his experience with us on the band's forthcoming tour. Below is the first of many "tour diaries" he'll be filing for DCist.

Hello Everyone – it's Tom from the band These United States. For the next three weeks, Jesse Elliott (vocals, guitar, songs) and I (pedal steel, guitar, banjo, glockenspiel) will be touring the Midwest and Northeast areas of the country and the kind folks at DCist have asked me to write about it.

For those/most of you who aren't familiar with the band – we're a D.C. based folk/rock/etc. band consisting of Jesse and myself at the core and supported by a stellar cast of musicians. However, for a number of reasons (people's day jobs, ease of travel, etc.) we most often travel as a duo. We play a lot of shows – about 60 so far this year, and over 100 last year, and Jesse and I have toured the entire country.

In true TUS fashion, we have a typically skewed itinerary for this trip: Jesse is in Elgin, IL (at his parents' house). I'm driving to Lexington, KY to meet up with our drummer, Robby, who will be playing the first 6 shows of the tour with us. Post-Robby, we're meeting up with The Barn Owls, a guitar and drum duo from Columbus, OH – who will be accompanying us on the next 4 shows. Jesse and I then have some duo shows, then we're having our friend Jesse drum with us for our NYC and Philly shows – and our band will be joining us for our return show at Iota on August 4. 19 days, 17 shows, 4 drummers.

The instruments are packed up. The essentials are packed – a towel, a road atlas, a Next Exit book, earplugs, and a floor mat to sleep on…and tons of Emergen-C. These are all things that a) not being dry b) getting lost c) wondering where the next gas station is d) & e) not sleeping f) getting sick have taught me fall into the "essential" category.)

We get a free upgrade on the rental car. We'll be traveling in style this time out…

And I'm off...